Baltimore Ravens introduce new defensive coordinator Zach Orr: 'I bleed purple and black'
BALTIMORE -- Zach Orr was officially announced on Tuesday as the Baltimore Ravens' new defensive coordinator.
Orr continues an improbable and unexpected rise in the coaching ranks.
After his playing career was cut shot, he quickly pivoted to a new career path.
Orr, previously the Ravens Inside Linebackers Coach, is taking over the defensive coordinator role left open after Mike Macdonald took the head coaching vacancy in Seattle.
Macdonald wanted Orr to come west with him. However, that wasn't in Orr's game plan.
"I tell people all the time, 'I bleed purple and black,'" Orr said. "This organization, [it] means something to me. This means a little more to me. It's not just me just coaching in the National Football League, just for any other organization. No, I'm coaching for the organization that had my back. When I went through what I went through, they didn't allow me to really put my head down."
Orr has enthusiasm but lacks experience. He's never called plays.
He will do that for the first time with his new job with the Ravens.
"I've seen it done, I've been a part of it, and what makes me confident is my preparation [that] I'm going to put in," Orr said. "I'm going to prepare my butt off, and that's where your confidence comes in [with] anything you do. When you're not confident that you can do a job, that means you haven't prepared. So, if you prepare the right way, like you're supposed to prepare, you're going to be confident. And I plan on preparing the right way."
Players change and coaches change, but the philosophy of Ravens' defense remains the same.
"Playing together as a team, playing physical, playing violent and finishing everything you do," Orr said. "And that's what I've believed in as a football player [from] before I even got here. So when I got here, it was just like a match made in heaven. But [it] definitely makes it easier, because I understand the standard and expectation. I've lived it, been part of it, and I'm excited for it. I wouldn't want it any other way."
Orr is the seventh defensive coordinator in John Harbaugh's 17 seasons as head coach, and all seven had previous experience with the Ravens.
